But all the commentators I’ve read have failed to mention is that there was already a ticking time-bomb with age related allowances.

Currently, the age related personal allowances kick in at the same time a man can get their state pension – currently 65. However, that state pension age is not fixed, and will gradually start to rise in a few years time. If it’s your 58th birthday today (22nd March) you will reach the state pension age on the 6th September 2019, when you are 65 years, 5 months and 15 days old.

So would you have got the age related allowance for nearly 6 months when you were working? Or would you have had to wait for state retirement age?

Both options would have been messy for calculating tax. And both options would have had some inherent unfairness.

It was probably sensible for the chancellor to announce something sooner rather then later, but whether this was the right option is an entirely different question.

On the other hand, if you are a women in your forties, your state pension age has increased several times over your working life. And the date you can start to receive private pensions – where you invested your own money – has also increased.